Schwedt

Schwedt
Old town
Coat of arms of Schwedt Coat of arms
Schwedt
Location of Schwedt within Uckermark district
Coordinates:
Country	Germany
State	Brandenburg
District	Uckermark
Government
• Mayor	Jürgen Polzehl (SPD)
Area
• Total	200.12 km2 (77.27 sq mi)
Population (2013-12-31)
• Total	30,539
• Density	150/km2 (400/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	16303
Dialling codes	03332, 033336
Vehicle registration	UM
Website	www.schwedt.eu

Schwedt (or Schwedt/Oder; German pronunciation: [ˈʃveːt]) is a town in northeastern Brandenburg, Germany. With the official status of a Große kreisangehörige Stadt (major district town), it is the largest town of the Uckermark district, located near the Oder River close to the border with Poland.

Overview

The formerly agrarian town today has one of the largest oil refineries (PCK Raffinerie GmbH) in Germany, established in 1958 and connected to the Russian Druzhba pipeline network, and is the largest location of paper industry (UPM) in Europe. Most industries were located in the remote area during socialist rule in the 1960s and 1970s.

Large residential areas were built for the workers moving to Schwedt. About 9% of the town's flats are in prefab concrete buildings (Plattenbau) dating from the era. As many jobs were lost after German reunification and the return to market economy, Schwedt has lost a quarter of its population since 1990. In recent decades, Schwedt became a model town for the demolition of Plattenbau housing to combat urban decay.

Geography

Schwedt is situated in the east of the historic Uckermark region stretching from the Oder to the Havel River. It is situated on an sandur at the western edge of the Oder floodplain running along the German-Polish border, which in 1995 was declared as the Lower Oder Valley National Park nature reserve. Across the river and the border, about 10 km (6.2 mi) to the southeast, is the Polish town of Chojna (formerly Königsberg in der Neumark). The nearest German towns are Angermünde (about 18 km (11 mi) to the west) and Gartz (18 km (11 mi) down the Oder).

Local districts

In a 1974 municipal reform, the neighbouring village of Heinersdorf was incorporated into Schwedt, followed by Blumenhagen, Gatow and Kunow in 1993, by Kummerow in 1998, by Criewen and Zützen in 2001, Stendell in 2002, and the former town Vierraden in 2003. With 200.12 km² (77.27 sq mi) Schwedt is among the 100 largest German municipalities by area.

Nearest cities and towns

Gartz (Germany), Penkun (Germany), Szczecin (Poland), Gryfino (Poland), Cedynia (Poland), Chojna (Poland), Mieszkowice (Poland), Moryń (Poland), Trzcińsko-Zdrój (Poland), Myślibórz (Poland), Pyrzyce (Poland)

History

File:Schwedter Schloss.jpeg

Schwedt Castle, destroyed in 1945.

After the Migration Period, the area had been settled by Polabian Slavs. From 937 onwards the lands of the Slavic Ukrani tribes in the west were subued by the Saxon forces of Margrave Gero and incorporated into his vast Marca Geronis', while the lands east of the Oder were held by Pomeranian tribes under pressure by the Polish forces of Duke Mieszko I. The Saxon Northern March was lost in the Great Slav Rising of 983, and not before 1147 the Saxon count Albert the Bear again invaded the lands on the Oder river, which remained disputed between the newly established Margraviate of Brandenburg and the Pomeranian dukes.

The settlement of Schwedt was first mentioned in a 1265 deed. In the course of the Brandenburg–Pomeranian conflict, the Brandenburg margrave Louis II the Roman ceded it to Duke Barnim III of Pomerania in 1354. It was again besieged by the first Hohenzollern margrave Frederick I in 1434, but to no avail. In 1481 the Thuringian counts of Hohnstein acquired the estates, they granted town privileges to Schwedt as well as to neighbouring Vierraden and introduced the Protestant Reformation.

The rise of Schwedt came to an end with the extinction of the Hohnstein counts in 1609 and the disastrous Thirty Years' War, when the town on the road from Stettin to Berlin was plundered several times. In 1631 King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden after landing in Pomerania camped here on his way to the Battle of Breitenfeld, six years later the Swedish field marshal Johan Banér set the town on fire, after its citizens refused capitulation.

During the Great Northern War, the Treaty of Schwedt was signed in the town.

Near the end of World War II, over two months of heavy fighting destroyed an estimated 85 percent of the town, including its castle, the Schwedter Schloss. The Soviet Army occupied Schwedt on April 26, 1945, two weeks before the final defeat of Nazi Germany. During the 1960s, the government of the DDR expanded housing and encouraged people to move to Schwedt, a trend that ended with the fall of Communism.

Demography

• 

  Development of Population since 1875 within the Current Boundaries (Blue Line: Population; Dotted Line: Comparison to Population Development of Brandenburg state; Grey Background: Time of Nazi rule; Red Background: Time of Communist rule)

• 

  Recent Population Development (Blue Line) and Forecasts

Schwedt/Oder:
Population development within the current boundaries

Year Population 1875 15 127 1890 14 709 1910 14 125 1925 13 640 1933 13 683 1939 13 512 1946 11 332 1950 12 418 1964 23 441 1971 38 211

Year Population 1981 54 933 1985 54 142 1989 55 082 1990 53 628 1991 51 923 1992 52 188 1993 51 606 1994 50 684 1995 49 371 1996 48 138

Year Population 1997 46 723 1998 45 117 1999 43 707 2000 42 261 2001 40 685 2002 39 381 2003 38 691 2004 37 940 2005 37 259 2006 36 677

Year Population 2007 35 881 2008 35 162 2009 34 586 2010 34 035 2011 31 515 2012 31 042

Detailed data sources are to be found in the Wikimedia Commons.

Notable people

• Jörg Hoffmann – Freestyle swimmer
• Britta Steffen – Freestyle swimmer - a current holder of the world record in women's 50 and 100 metre freestyle.

Julia Brendler - Actress

• Leonhardt von Blumenthal Prussian Field Marshal, born 1810

International relations

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Germany

Schwedt is twinned with:

• Koszalin, Poland

External links

•  
• City's official website (German)
• City's official website (English)
• official website of National Park "Unteres Odertal" (German)
• official website of PCK Raffinerie GmbH (German)